What is the Co-Response component in the HEART Program?

• A. Replaces all police personnel with clinicians in emergency responses.
• B. Involves dispatching unarmed community volunteers to calls.
• C. Pairs a HEART clinician with a CIT-trained officer to respond to the highest risk calls involving mental and behavioral health needs.
• D. Provides only telephonic counseling for crisis calls.

Answer: (C)

Co-Response in the HEART Program centers on on-scene collaboration between a clinician and a trained officer to handle the most serious mental and behavioral health crises. The clinician brings crisis intervention and clinical assessment, helping to gauge risk and needs, while the officer ensures scene safety and applies legal authority as needed. Together they can de-escalate the situation, quickly determine the appropriate disposition, and connect the person to treatment or community resources rather than defaulting to arrest or hospitalization. This model reflects a joint approach to safety and care, recognizing that some crises require both clinical expertise and law enforcement presence.

The other descriptions don’t fit because they either remove essential on-scene safety and authority, rely on non-professional volunteers, or limit the response to telephonic support, none of which capture the integrated, on-scene collaboration that defines Co-Response.